Costolo steps down from Twitter UK director role

Twitter CEO Dick Costolo is reported to have resigned from his position as head of Twitter's UK operations.

Sky News reported that Costolo's position as UK director was terminated on 9 May 2013. His position will be filled by Dublin accountant Laurence O'Brien, who will join existing directors Alex Macgillivray and Ali Rowghani. Twitter has not yet commented on the decision.

Costolo's step back from the UK division comes just two days after UK-based subsidiary TweetDeck Ltd was dissolved. TweetDeck's directors failed to file proper accounts with Companies House on several occasions, forcing the registrar to strike off TweetDeck on 7 May. However, a Twitter spokesperson reassured users that the product would be unaffected, while the dissolution was planned for some time:

"TweetDeck the product continues to thrive as part of Twitter, but the old company has been dormant for some time, with no outstanding liabilities; hence our agreement with the move to dissolve it."

Costolo may therefore be taking a back seat in UK operations, as TweetDeck is purposefully incorporated into the main company.

Twitter in the UK

Twitter acquired TweetDeck - which allows users to manage multiple accounts from one dashboard - in May 2011 for a reported £25 million, from British developer Iain Dodsworth. The purchase coincided with Twitter's first foray into the UK, opening a London office in the same month.

The social giant's UK office focuses on selling Twitter's advertising including promoted tweets and trends. It was recently revealed that Twitter UK profits for the first year totalled a meagre £16,500; however, there is no sign of UK operations being scaled back, as the recruitment drive continues.

Tom Glass, creative director at theEword, commented: "It's likely that the time had come for TweetDeck to be fully integrated with the main company, while maybe Costolo also felt the UK division was ready to go it alone. But that's not to say Twitter UK will be any less important without him at the helm."